Management

Investment adviser Capital Research and Management Company ^SM

Portfolio oversight committee The investment adviser’s Portfolio Oversight Committee develops the allocation approach and selects the underlying funds in which the fund invests. The members of the Portfolio Oversight Committee are:

Purchase and sale of fund shares The minimum amount to establish an account for all share classes is normally $250 and the minimum to add to an account is $50. For an employer-sponsored 529 account, the minimum is $25 to establish or add to an account.

You may sell (redeem) shares on any business day through your dealer or financial advisor or by writing to American Funds Service Company ^® at P.O. Box 6007, Indianapolis, Indiana 46206-6007; telephoning American Funds Service Company at (800) 421-4225; faxing American Funds Service Company at (888) 421-4351; or accessing our website at americanfunds.com.

Tax information Dividends and capital gains distributed by the fund to tax-favored college savings accounts are not currently taxable. Please refer to the applicable program description for more information regarding the tax consequences of holding or selling Class 529 shares.

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund and the fund’s distributor or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your individual financial advisor to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your individual financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

35     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

American Funds College 2021 Fund

Investment objectives The fund will seek to achieve the following objectives to varying degrees: growth, income and preservation of capital, depending on the proximity to its target date. The target date is meant to roughly correspond to the year in which the fund beneficiary will start to withdraw funds to meet higher education expenses. The fund will increasingly emphasize income and preservation of capital by investing a greater portion of its assets in bond, equity-income and balanced funds as it approaches and passes its target date. In this way, the fund seeks to achieve an appropriate balance of total return and stability during different time periods.

Fees and expenses of the fund This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional, in the “Sales charge reductions and waivers” sections on page 77 of the prospectus and on page 76 of the fund’s statement of additional information, and in the sales charge waiver appendix to this prospectus.

¹  A contingent deferred sales charge of 1.00% applies on certain redemptions made within 18 months following purchases of $1 million or more made without an initial sales charge. Contingent deferred sales charge is calculated based on the lesser of the offering price and market value of shares being sold.

²   Restated to reflect current fees.

³  Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     36

Example This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio turnover The fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s investment results. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 7% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies The fund will attempt to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a mix of American Funds in different combinations and weightings. The underlying American Funds represent a variety of fund categories such as growth-and-income funds, equity-income funds, balanced funds and bond funds. The fund categories represent differing investment objectives. For example, growth-and-income funds seek long-term growth-and-income primarily through investments in stocks. Equity-income and balanced funds generally strive for income and growth through stocks and/or bond investments, while bond funds seek current income through bond investments. The fund is designed for investors who plan to attend college in, or close to, the year designated in the fund’s name.

The investment adviser may periodically rebalance or modify the asset mix of the funds and change the underlying fund investments. According to its current investment approach, the percentage of the fund invested in different categories will change until the fund reaches its target date. Upon reaching its target date, the fund will be principally invested in fixed-income funds and may merge into the Enrollment Fund, which will also be principally invested in fixed-income funds.

The fund’s investment adviser periodically reviews the investment strategies and asset mix of the underlying funds. The investment adviser will also consider whether overall market conditions would favor a change in the exposure of the fund to various asset types or geographic regions. Based on these considerations, the investment adviser may make adjustments to underlying fund holdings by adjusting the percentage of individual underlying funds within the fund, or adding or removing underlying funds. The investment adviser may also determine not to change the underlying fund allocations, particularly in response to short-term market movements, if in its opinion the combination of underlying funds is appropriate to meet the fund’s investment objective.

With respect to its fixed-income investments, the underlying funds in which the fund invests may hold debt securities with a wide range of quality and maturities. The fund may invest in underlying funds with significant exposure to bonds rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser, or unrated but determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. Securities rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below are sometimes referred to as “junk bonds.” Exposure to lower rated securities may help the fund achieve its objective of providing current income.

The underlying funds may hold securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S. government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The underlying funds may also invest in the debt securities of governments, agencies, corporations and other entities domiciled outside the United States.

37     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

The following chart illustrates the investment approach of the fund by showing how its investment in the various fund categories will change over time. The allocations shown reflect the fund’s target allocations as of February 9, 2018.

Investment approach

The investment adviser anticipates that the fund will invest its assets within a range that deviates no more than 10% above or below the investment approach set forth above. For example, a 20% target allocation to growth funds is not expected to be greater than 30% or less than 10%. The investment adviser will continuously monitor the fund and may make modifications to either the investment approach or the underlying fund allocations that the investment adviser believes could benefit shareholders.

Principal risks This section describes the principal risks associated with the fund’s and its underlying funds’ principal investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time. Investors in the fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to tolerate potentially sharp declines in value.

The following are principal risks associated with the fund’s investment strategies.

Allocation risk — Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the investment adviser’s allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds and the allocation of the fund’s assets could cause the fund to lose value or its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Fund structure — The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.

Underlying fund risks — Because the fund’s investments consist of underlying funds, the fund’s risks are directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying funds, as described below.

The following are principal risks associated with the underlying funds’ investment strategies.

Market conditions — The prices of, and the income generated by, the common stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline – sometimes rapidly or unpredictably – due to various factors, including events or conditions affecting the general economy or particular industries; overall market changes; local, regional or global political, social or economic instability; governmental or governmental agency responses to economic conditions; and currency exchange rate, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations.

Issuer risks — The prices of, and the income generated by, securities held by the underlying funds may decline in response to various factors directly related to the issuers of such securities, including reduced demand for an issuer’s goods or services, poor management performance and strategic initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions or dispositions and the market response to any such initiatives.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     38

Investing in stocks — Investing in stocks may involve larger price swings and greater potential for loss than other types of investments. As a result, the value of the underlying funds may be subject to sharp, short-term declines in value. Income provided by an underlying fund may be reduced by changes in the dividend policies of, and the capital resources available at, the companies in which the underlying fund invests. As the fund nears its target date, a decreasing proportion of the fund’s assets will be invested in underlying funds that invest primarily in stocks. Accordingly, these risks are expected to be more significant the further the fund is removed from its target date and are expected to lessen as the fund approaches its target date.

Investing in debt instruments — The prices of, and the income generated by, bonds and other debt securities held by an underlying fund may be affected by changing interest rates and by changes in the effective maturities and credit ratings of these securities.

Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of bonds and other debt securities to fall. Falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or refinance a debt security before its stated maturity, which may result in the fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities. Longer maturity debt securities generally have greater sensitivity to changes in interest rates and may be subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities.

Bonds and other debt securities are also subject to credit risk, which is the possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the credit ratings of the debt securities in which the underlying fund invests. However, ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk. The underlying funds’ investment adviser relies on its own credit analysts to research issuers and issues in seeking to mitigate various credit and default risks. These risks will be more significant as the fund approaches its target date because a greater proportion of the fund’s assets will consist of underlying funds that primarily invest in bonds.

Investing in lower rated debt instruments — Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of default or price declines due to changes in the issuer’s creditworthiness than those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks may be increased with respect to investments in junk bonds.

Investing in small companies — Investing in smaller companies may pose additional risks. For example, it is often more difficult to value or dispose of small company stocks and more difficult to obtain information about smaller companies than about larger companies. Furthermore, smaller companies often have limited product lines, operating histories, markets and/or financial resources, may be dependent on one or a few key persons for management, and can be more susceptible to losses. Moreover, the prices of their stocks may be more volatile than stocks of larger, more established companies.

Investing outside the United States — Securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States, or with significant operations or revenues outside the United States, may lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market developments (including social instability, regional conflicts, terrorism and war) in the countries or regions in which the issuers operate or generate revenue. These securities may also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Issuers of these securities may be more susceptible to actions of foreign governments, such as the imposition of price controls or punitive taxes, that could adversely impact the value of these securities. Securities markets in certain countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the United States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to different accounting practices and different regulatory, legal and reporting standards and practices, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the United States. In addition, the value of investments outside the United States may be reduced by foreign taxes, including foreign withholding taxes on interest and dividends. Further, there may be increased risks of delayed settlement of securities purchased or sold by an underlying fund. The risks of investing outside the United States may be heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.

Investing in emerging markets — Investing in emerging markets may involve risks in addition to and greater than those generally associated with investing in the securities markets of developed countries. For instance, developing countries may have less developed legal and accounting systems than those in developed countries. The governments of these countries may be less stable and more likely to impose capital controls, nationalize a company or industry, place restrictions on foreign ownership and on withdrawing sale proceeds of securities from the country, and/or impose punitive taxes that could adversely affect the prices of securities. In addition, the economies of these countries may be dependent on relatively few industries that are more susceptible to local and global changes. Securities markets in these countries can also be relatively small and have substantially lower trading volumes. As a result, securities issued in these countries may be more volatile and less liquid, and may be more difficult to value, than securities issued in countries with more developed economies and/or markets. Less certainty with respect to security valuations may lead to additional challenges and risks in calculating the underlying fund’s net asset value. Additionally, there may be increased settlement risks for transactions in local securities.

39     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Investing in mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities — Mortgage-related securities, such as mortgage-backed securities, and other asset-backed securities, include debt obligations that represent interests in pools of mortgages or other income-bearing assets, such as consumer loans or receivables. Such securities often involve risks that are different from or more acute than the risks associated with investing in other types of debt securities. Mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are subject to changes in the payment patterns of borrowers of the underlying debt. When interest rates fall, borrowers are more likely to refinance or prepay their debt before its stated maturity. This may result in an underlying fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities, effectively reducing the underlying fund’s income. Conversely, if interest rates rise and borrowers repay their debt more slowly than expected, the time in which the mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are paid off could be extended, reducing an underlying fund’s cash available for reinvestment in higher yielding securities.

Investing in securities backed by the U.S. government — Securities backed by the U.S. Treasury or the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity. Accordingly, the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.

Investing in future delivery contracts — An underlying fund may enter into contracts, such as to-be-announced contracts and mortgage dollar rolls, that involve an underlying fund selling mortgage-related securities and simultaneously contracting to repurchase similar securities for delivery at a future date at a predetermined price. This can increase the underlying fund’s market exposure, and the market price of the securities that the underlying fund contracts to repurchase could drop below their purchase price. While an underlying fund can preserve and generate capital through the use of such contracts by, for example, realizing the difference between the sale price and the future purchase price, the income generated by the underlying fund may be reduced by engaging in such transactions. In addition, these transactions may increase the turnover rate of the underlying fund.

Investing in derivatives — The use of derivatives involves a variety of risks, which may be different from, or greater than, the risks associated with investing in traditional cash securities, such as stocks and bonds. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with, and may be more sensitive to market events than, the underlying asset, rate or index, and a derivative instrument may expose the underlying fund to losses in excess of its initial investment. Derivatives may be difficult for the underlying fund to buy or sell at an opportune time or price and may be difficult to terminate or otherwise offset. The underlying fund’s use of derivatives may result in losses to the underlying fund, and investing in derivatives may reduce the underlying fund’s returns and increase the underlying fund’s price volatility. The underlying fund’s counterparty to a derivative transaction (including, if applicable, the underlying fund’s clearing broker, the derivatives exchange or the clearinghouse) may be unable or unwilling to honor its financial obligations in respect of the transaction. A description of the derivative instruments in which the underlying fund may invest and the various risks associated with those derivatives is included in the underlying fund’s statement of additional information under “Description of certain securities, investment techniques and risks.”

Management — The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds actively manages each underlying fund’s investments. Consequently, the underlying funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by the investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results. This could cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency, entity or person. You should consider how this fund fits into your overall investment program.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     40

Investment results The following bar chart shows how the fund’s investment results have varied from year to year, and the following table shows how the fund’s average annual total returns for various periods compare with a broad measure of securities market results and other applicable measures of market results. This information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. Past investment results (before and after taxes) are not predictive of future investment results. Updated information on the fund’s investment results can be obtained by visiting americanfunds.com.

41     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Management

Investment adviser Capital Research and Management Company ^SM

Portfolio oversight committee The investment adviser’s Portfolio Oversight Committee develops the allocation approach and selects the underlying funds in which the fund invests. The members of the Portfolio Oversight Committee are:

Purchase and sale of fund shares The minimum amount to establish an account for all share classes is normally $250 and the minimum to add to an account is $50. For an employer-sponsored 529 account, the minimum is $25 to establish or add to an account.

You may sell (redeem) shares on any business day through your dealer or financial advisor or by writing to American Funds Service Company ^® at P.O. Box 6007, Indianapolis, Indiana 46206-6007; telephoning American Funds Service Company at (800) 421-4225; faxing American Funds Service Company at (888) 421-4351; or accessing our website at americanfunds.com.

Tax information Dividends and capital gains distributed by the fund to tax-favored college savings accounts are not currently taxable. Please refer to the applicable program description for more information regarding the tax consequences of holding or selling Class 529 shares.

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund and the fund’s distributor or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your individual financial advisor to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your individual financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     42

American Funds College 2018 Fund

Investment objectives The fund will seek to achieve the following objectives to varying degrees: growth, income and preservation of capital, depending on the proximity to its target date. The target date is meant to roughly correspond to the year in which the fund beneficiary will start to withdraw funds to meet higher education expenses. The fund will increasingly emphasize income and preservation of capital by investing a greater portion of its assets in bond, equity-income and balanced funds as it approaches and passes its target date. In this way, the fund seeks to achieve an appropriate balance of total return and stability during different time periods.

Fees and expenses of the fund This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional, in the “Sales charge reductions and waivers” sections on page 77 of the prospectus and on page 76 of the fund’s statement of additional information, and in the sales charge waiver appendix to this prospectus.

¹  A contingent deferred sales charge of 1.00% applies on certain redemptions made within 18 months following purchases of $1 million or more made without an initial sales charge. Contingent deferred sales charge is calculated based on the lesser of the offering price and market value of shares being sold.

²   Restated to reflect current fees.

³  Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

43     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Example This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio turnover The fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s investment results. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 10% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies The fund will attempt to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a mix of American Funds in different combinations and weightings. The underlying American Funds represent a variety of fund categories such as growth-and-income funds, equity-income funds, balanced funds and bond funds. The fund categories represent differing investment objectives. For example, growth-and-income funds seek long-term growth-and-income primarily through investments in stocks. Equity-income and balanced funds generally strive for income and growth through stocks and/or bond investments, while bond funds seek current income through bond investments. The fund is designed for investors who plan to attend college in, or close to, the year designated in the fund’s name.

The investment adviser may periodically rebalance or modify the asset mix of the funds and change the underlying fund investments. According to its current investment approach, the percentage of the fund invested in different categories will change until the fund reaches its target date. Upon reaching its target date, the fund will be principally invested in fixed-income funds and may merge into the Enrollment Fund, which will also be principally invested in fixed-income funds.

The fund’s investment adviser periodically reviews the investment strategies and asset mix of the underlying funds. The investment adviser will also consider whether overall market conditions would favor a change in the exposure of the fund to various asset types or geographic regions. Based on these considerations, the investment adviser may make adjustments to underlying fund holdings by adjusting the percentage of individual underlying funds within the fund, or adding or removing underlying funds. The investment adviser may also determine not to change the underlying fund allocations, particularly in response to short-term market movements, if in its opinion the combination of underlying funds is appropriate to meet the fund’s investment objective.

With respect to its fixed-income investments, the underlying funds in which the fund invests may hold debt securities with a wide range of quality and maturities. The fund may invest in underlying funds with significant exposure to bonds rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser, or unrated but determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. Securities rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below are sometimes referred to as “junk bonds.” Exposure to lower rated securities may help the fund achieve its objective of providing current income.

The underlying funds may hold securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S. government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The underlying funds may also invest in the debt securities of governments, agencies, corporations and other entities domiciled outside the United States.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     44

The following chart illustrates the investment approach of the fund by showing how its investment in the various fund categories will change over time. The allocations shown reflect the fund’s target allocations as of February 9, 2018.

Investment approach

The investment adviser anticipates that the fund will invest its assets within a range that deviates no more than 10% above or below the investment approach set forth above. For example, a 20% target allocation to growth funds is not expected to be greater than 30% or less than 10%. The investment adviser will continuously monitor the fund and may make modifications to either the investment approach or the underlying fund allocations that the investment adviser believes could benefit shareholders.

On December 4, 2017, the Board of Trustees of the American Funds College Target Date Series approved the merger of American Funds College 2018 Fund into American Funds College Enrollment Fund pursuant to Rule 17a-8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940. It is anticipated that the merger will be consummated on or about April 20, 2018; however, the Series reserves the right to delay the closing of the merger. At such time, beneficial owners of shares of American Funds College 2018 Fund will automatically receive a proportionate number of shares of American Funds College Enrollment Fund based on each fund’s net asset value at the time of the merger. Accordingly, when acquiring shares of American Funds College 2018 Fund, you should also consider the strategies and risks of American Funds College Enrollment Fund. Please see the American Funds College Enrollment Fund’s summary prospectus or the American Funds College Enrollment Fund summary section of the American Funds College Target Date Series prospectus for further information on the strategies and risks of American Funds College Enrollment Fund. Additionally, please note that no new purchases of shares of American Funds College 2018 Fund will be accepted within five business days of the effective date of the proposed merger. If the merger is effected on April 20, 2018, as is currently planned, no new purchases of American Funds College 2018 Fund shares will be accepted as of April 16, 2018.

Principal risks This section describes the principal risks associated with the fund’s and its underlying funds’ principal investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time. Investors in the fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to tolerate potentially sharp declines in value.

The following are principal risks associated with the fund’s investment strategies.

Allocation risk — Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the investment adviser’s allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds and the allocation of the fund’s assets could cause the fund to lose value or its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Fund structure — The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.

Underlying fund risks — Because the fund’s investments consist of underlying funds, the fund’s risks are directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying funds, as described below.

45     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

The following are principal risks associated with the underlying funds’ investment strategies.

Market conditions — The prices of, and the income generated by, the common stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline – sometimes rapidly or unpredictably – due to various factors, including events or conditions affecting the general economy or particular industries; overall market changes; local, regional or global political, social or economic instability; governmental or governmental agency responses to economic conditions; and currency exchange rate, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations.

Issuer risks — The prices of, and the income generated by, securities held by the underlying funds may decline in response to various factors directly related to the issuers of such securities, including reduced demand for an issuer’s goods or services, poor management performance and strategic initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions or dispositions and the market response to any such initiatives.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     46

Investing in debt instruments — The prices of, and the income generated by, bonds and other debt securities held by an underlying fund may be affected by changing interest rates and by changes in the effective maturities and credit ratings of these securities.

Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of bonds and other debt securities to fall. Falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or refinance a debt security before its stated maturity, which may result in the fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities. Longer maturity debt securities generally have greater sensitivity to changes in interest rates and may be subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities.

Bonds and other debt securities are also subject to credit risk, which is the possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the credit ratings of the debt securities in which the underlying fund invests. However, ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk. The underlying funds’ investment adviser relies on its own credit analysts to research issuers and issues in seeking to mitigate various credit and default risks. These risks will be more significant as the fund approaches its target date because a greater proportion of the fund’s assets will consist of underlying funds that primarily invest in bonds.

Investing in lower rated debt instruments — Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of default or price declines due to changes in the issuer’s creditworthiness than those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks may be increased with respect to investments in junk bonds.

Investing outside the United States — Securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States, or with significant operations or revenues outside the United States, may lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market developments (including social instability, regional conflicts, terrorism and war) in the countries or regions in which the issuers operate or generate revenue. These securities may also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Issuers of these securities may be more susceptible to actions of foreign governments, such as the imposition of price controls or punitive taxes, that could adversely impact the value of these securities. Securities markets in certain countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the United States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to different accounting practices and different regulatory, legal and reporting standards and practices, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the United States. In addition, the value of investments outside the United States may be reduced by foreign taxes, including foreign withholding taxes on interest and dividends. Further, there may be increased risks of delayed settlement of securities purchased or sold by an underlying fund. The risks of investing outside the United States may be heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.

47     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Investing in mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities — Mortgage-related securities, such as mortgage-backed securities, and other asset-backed securities, include debt obligations that represent interests in pools of mortgages or other income-bearing assets, such as consumer loans or receivables. Such securities often involve risks that are different from or more acute than the risks associated with investing in other types of debt securities. Mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are subject to changes in the payment patterns of borrowers of the underlying debt. When interest rates fall, borrowers are more likely to refinance or prepay their debt before its stated maturity. This may result in an underlying fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities, effectively reducing the underlying fund’s income. Conversely, if interest rates rise and borrowers repay their debt more slowly than expected, the time in which the mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are paid off could be extended, reducing an underlying fund’s cash available for reinvestment in higher yielding securities.

Investing in securities backed by the U.S. government — Securities backed by the U.S. Treasury or the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity. Accordingly, the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.

Investing in future delivery contracts — An underlying fund may enter into contracts, such as to-be-announced contracts and mortgage dollar rolls, that involve an underlying fund selling mortgage-related securities and simultaneously contracting to repurchase similar securities for delivery at a future date at a predetermined price. This can increase the underlying fund’s market exposure, and the market price of the securities that the underlying fund contracts to repurchase could drop below their purchase price. While an underlying fund can preserve and generate capital through the use of such contracts by, for example, realizing the difference between the sale price and the future purchase price, the income generated by the underlying fund may be reduced by engaging in such transactions. In addition, these transactions may increase the turnover rate of the underlying fund.

Investing in derivatives — The use of derivatives involves a variety of risks, which may be different from, or greater than, the risks associated with investing in traditional cash securities, such as stocks and bonds. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with, and may be more sensitive to market events than, the underlying asset, rate or index, and a derivative instrument may expose the underlying fund to losses in excess of its initial investment. Derivatives may be difficult for the underlying fund to buy or sell at an opportune time or price and may be difficult to terminate or otherwise offset. The underlying fund’s use of derivatives may result in losses to the underlying fund, and investing in derivatives may reduce the underlying fund’s returns and increase the underlying fund’s price volatility. The underlying fund’s counterparty to a derivative transaction (including, if applicable, the underlying fund’s clearing broker, the derivatives exchange or the clearinghouse) may be unable or unwilling to honor its financial obligations in respect of the transaction. A description of the derivative instruments in which the underlying fund may invest and the various risks associated with those derivatives is included in the underlying fund’s statement of additional information under “Description of certain securities, investment techniques and risks.”

Management — The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds actively manages each underlying fund’s investments. Consequently, the underlying funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by the investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results. This could cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency, entity or person. You should consider how this fund fits into your overall investment program.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     48

Investment results The following bar chart shows how the fund’s investment results have varied from year to year, and the following table shows how the fund’s average annual total returns for various periods compare with a broad measure of securities market results and other applicable measures of market results. This information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. Past investment results (before and after taxes) are not predictive of future investment results. Updated information on the fund’s investment results can be obtained by visiting americanfunds.com.

49     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Management

Investment adviser Capital Research and Management Company ^SM

Portfolio oversight committee The investment adviser’s Portfolio Oversight Committee develops the allocation approach and selects the underlying funds in which the fund invests. The members of the Portfolio Oversight Committee are:

Purchase and sale of fund shares The minimum amount to establish an account for all share classes is normally $250 and the minimum to add to an account is $50. For an employer-sponsored 529 account, the minimum is $25 to establish or add to an account.

You may sell (redeem) shares on any business day through your dealer or financial advisor or by writing to American Funds Service Company ^® at P.O. Box 6007, Indianapolis, Indiana 46206-6007; telephoning American Funds Service Company at (800) 421-4225; faxing American Funds Service Company at (888) 421-4351; or accessing our website at americanfunds.com.

Tax information Dividends and capital gains distributed by the fund to tax-favored college savings accounts are not currently taxable. Please refer to the applicable program description for more information regarding the tax consequences of holding or selling Class 529 shares.

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund and the fund’s distributor or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your individual financial advisor to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your individual financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     50

American Funds College Enrollment Fund

Investment objective The fund’s investment objective is to provide current income, consistent with preservation of capital.

Fees and expenses of the fund This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $500,000 in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional, in the “Sales charge reductions and waivers” sections on page 77 of the prospectus and on page 76 of the fund’s statement of additional information, and in the sales charge waiver appendix to this prospectus.

¹  A contingent deferred sales charge of 1.00% applies on certain redemptions made within 18 months following purchases of $1 million or more made without an initial sales charge. Contingent deferred sales charge is calculated based on the lesser of the offering price and market value of shares being sold.

²   Restated to reflect current fees.

³  Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

51     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Example This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Portfolio turnover The fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s investment results. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 7% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies The fund will attempt to achieve its investment objective by investing in a mix of American Funds bond funds. The fund will principally invest in funds that seek current income through bond investments. The fund is designed for investors who attend college currently or plan to in the near future.

When determining in which bond funds to invest, the investment adviser will predominately seek exposure to higher quality bonds (rated A- or better or A3 or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser, or unrated but determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality) with intermediate to short-term durations. The fund may, however, invest in underlying funds with exposure to lower quality, higher yielding securities rated BBB+ or below and Baa1 or below (including those rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below) or unrated but determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality, and to bonds with longer durations.

The underlying funds may hold securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S. government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The investment adviser anticipates that exposure to mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities may help the fund generate current income. The underlying funds may also invest in the debt securities of governments, agencies, corporations and other entities domiciled outside the United States.

The fund’s investment adviser seeks to create a combination of underlying funds that complement each other with a goal of achieving the fund’s investment objective of providing current income, consistent with preservation of capital. In making this determination, the fund’s investment adviser considers the historical volatility and returns of the underlying funds and how various combinations would have behaved in past market environments. It also considers, among other topics, current market conditions and the investment positions of the underlying funds.

Principal risks This section describes the principal risks associated with the fund’s and its underlying funds’ principal investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time. Investors in the fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to tolerate potentially sharp declines in value.

The following are principal risks associated with the fund’s investment strategies.

Allocation risk — Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the investment adviser’s allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds and the allocation of the fund’s assets could cause the fund to lose value or its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Fund structure — The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.

Underlying fund risks — Because the fund’s investments consist of underlying funds, the fund’s risks are directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying funds, as described below.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     52

The following are principal risks associated with the underlying funds’ investment strategies.

Market conditions — The prices of, and the income generated by, the common stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline – sometimes rapidly or unpredictably – due to various factors, including events or conditions affecting the general economy or particular industries; overall market changes; local, regional or global political, social or economic instability; governmental or governmental agency responses to economic conditions; and currency exchange rate, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations.

Issuer risks — The prices of, and the income generated by, securities held by the underlying funds may decline in response to various factors directly related to the issuers of such securities, including reduced demand for an issuer’s goods or services, poor management performance and strategic initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions or dispositions and the market response to any such initiatives.

Investing in debt instruments — The prices of, and the income generated by, bonds and other debt securities held by an underlying fund may be affected by changing interest rates and by changes in the effective maturities and credit ratings of these securities.

Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of bonds and other debt securities to fall. Falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or refinance a debt security before its stated maturity, which may result in the fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities. Longer maturity debt securities generally have greater sensitivity to changes in interest rates and may be subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities.

Bonds and other debt securities are also subject to credit risk, which is the possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the credit ratings of the debt securities in which the underlying fund invests. However, ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk. The underlying funds’ investment adviser relies on its own credit analysts to research issuers and issues in seeking to mitigate various credit and default risks. These risks will be more significant as the fund approaches its target date because a greater proportion of the fund’s assets will consist of underlying funds that primarily invest in bonds.

Investing in lower rated debt instruments — Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of default or price declines due to changes in the issuer’s creditworthiness than those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks may be increased with respect to investments in lower quality, higher yielding debt securities rated Ba1 or below and BB+ or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined by the investment adviser to be of equivalent quality, which securities are sometimes referred to as “junk bonds.”

Investing outside the United States — Securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States, or with significant operations or revenues outside the United States, may lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market developments (including social instability, regional conflicts, terrorism and war) in the countries or regions in which the issuers operate or generate revenue. These securities may also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Issuers of these securities may be more susceptible to actions of foreign governments, such as the imposition of price controls or punitive taxes, that could adversely impact the value of these securities. Securities markets in certain countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the United States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to different accounting practices and different regulatory, legal and reporting standards and practices, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the United States. In addition, the value of investments outside the United States may be reduced by foreign taxes, including foreign withholding taxes on interest and dividends. Further, there may be increased risks of delayed settlement of securities purchased or sold by an underlying fund. The risks of investing outside the United States may be heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.

Investing in mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities — Mortgage-related securities, such as mortgage-backed securities, and other asset-backed securities, include debt obligations that represent interests in pools of mortgages or other income-bearing assets, such as consumer loans or receivables. Such securities often involve risks that are different from or more acute than the risks associated with investing in other types of debt securities. Mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are subject to changes in the payment patterns of borrowers of the underlying debt. When interest rates fall, borrowers are more likely to refinance or prepay their debt before its stated maturity. This may result in an underlying fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities, effectively reducing the underlying fund’s income. Conversely, if interest rates rise and borrowers repay their debt more slowly than expected, the time in which the mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are paid off could be extended, reducing an underlying fund’s cash available for reinvestment in higher yielding securities.

Investing in securities backed by the U.S. government — Securities backed by the U.S. Treasury or the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity. Accordingly, the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.

53     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Investing in future delivery contracts — An underlying fund may enter into contracts, such as to-be-announced contracts and mortgage dollar rolls, that involve an underlying fund selling mortgage-related securities and simultaneously contracting to repurchase similar securities for delivery at a future date at a predetermined price. This can increase the underlying fund’s market exposure, and the market price of the securities that the underlying fund contracts to repurchase could drop below their purchase price. While an underlying fund can preserve and generate capital through the use of such contracts by, for example, realizing the difference between the sale price and the future purchase price, the income generated by the underlying fund may be reduced by engaging in such transactions. In addition, these transactions may increase the turnover rate of the underlying fund.

Investing in derivatives — The use of derivatives involves a variety of risks, which may be different from, or greater than, the risks associated with investing in traditional cash securities, such as stocks and bonds. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with, and may be more sensitive to market events than, the underlying asset, rate or index, and a derivative instrument may expose the underlying fund to losses in excess of its initial investment. Derivatives may be difficult for the underlying fund to buy or sell at an opportune time or price and may be difficult to terminate or otherwise offset. The underlying fund’s use of derivatives may result in losses to the underlying fund, and investing in derivatives may reduce the underlying fund’s returns and increase the underlying fund’s price volatility. The underlying fund’s counterparty to a derivative transaction (including, if applicable, the underlying fund’s clearing broker, the derivatives exchange or the clearinghouse) may be unable or unwilling to honor its financial obligations in respect of the transaction. A description of the derivative instruments in which the underlying fund may invest and the various risks associated with those derivatives is included in the underlying fund’s statement of additional information under “Description of certain securities, investment techniques and risks.”

Management — The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds actively manages each underlying fund’s investments. Consequently, the underlying funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by the investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results. This could cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency, entity or person. You should consider how this fund fits into your overall investment program.

Investment results The following bar chart shows how the fund’s investment results have varied from year to year, and the following table shows how the fund’s average annual total returns for various periods compare with a broad measure of securities market results and other applicable measures of market results. This information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. Past investment results (before and after taxes) are not predictive of future investment results. Updated information on the fund’s investment results can be obtained by visiting americanfunds.com.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     54

Management

Investment adviser Capital Research and Management Company ^SM

Portfolio oversight committee The investment adviser’s Portfolio Oversight Committee develops the allocation approach and selects the underlying funds in which the fund invests. The members of the Portfolio Oversight Committee are:

Purchase and sale of fund shares The minimum amount to establish an account for all share classes is normally $250 and the minimum to add to an account is $50. For an employer-sponsored 529 account, the minimum is $25 to establish or add to an account.

You may sell (redeem) shares on any business day through your dealer or financial advisor or by writing to American Funds Service Company ^® at P.O. Box 6007, Indianapolis, Indiana 46206-6007; telephoning American Funds Service Company at (800) 421-4225; faxing American Funds Service Company at (888) 421-4351; or accessing our website at americanfunds.com.

Tax information Dividends and capital gains distributed by the fund to tax-favored college savings accounts are not currently taxable. Please refer to the applicable program description for more information regarding the tax consequences of holding or selling Class 529 shares.

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund and the fund’s distributor or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your individual financial advisor to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your individual financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

55     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Investment objectives, strategies and risks Except where the context indicates otherwise, all references herein to the “fund” apply to each of the funds in the series.

The investment objectives, strategies and risks of each fund are summarized below:

Each fund in the series is designed for investors who plan to attend college in, or close to, the year designated in the fund’s name. Depending on its proximity to the target date, each fund will seek to achieve the following objectives to varying degrees: growth, income and preservation of capital. For example, the 2033 Fund, a fund with more years before anticipated enrollment, will emphasize growth more than a fund closer to the date of enrollment such as the 2018 Fund. As each fund approaches its target date, it will increasingly emphasize income and preservation of capital by investing a greater portion of its assets in bond, equity-income and balanced funds. In this way, each fund seeks to balance total return and stability over time. When each fund reaches its target date, it will principally invest in fixed-income funds and may merge into the Enrollment Fund, which will also principally invest in fixed-income funds. These investment objectives may be modified by the series’ board of trustees without shareholder approval.

The following chart illustrates the investment approach of the fund by showing how its investment in the various fund categories will change over time. The allocations shown reflect the fund’s target allocations as of February 9, 2018. For the avoidance of doubt, the Enrollment Fund will invest principally in funds that seek current income through fixed income investments, as reflected in the final column of the chart below.

Investment approach

The investment adviser anticipates that each fund will invest its assets within a range that deviates no more than 10% above or below the investment approach set forth above. For example, a 20% target allocation to growth funds is not expected to be greater than 30% or less than 10%. The investment adviser will continuously monitor the funds and may make modifications to either the investment approach or the underlying fund allocations that the investment adviser believes could benefit shareholders.

Each fund may, from time to time, take temporary defensive positions by holding all, or a significant portion, of its assets in cash, money market instruments, shares of money market funds or other securities that may be deemed appropriate by the fund’s investment adviser.

While the fund has no present intention to do so, the fund’s board may change the fund’s investment objectives without shareholder approval upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders. Each fund will attempt to achieve its investment objective by investing in a mix of American Funds in different combinations and weightings. The underlying American Funds represent a variety of fund categories such as growth funds, growth-and-income funds, equity-income funds, balanced funds and bond funds. Further, the fund categories represent differing investment objectives. For example, growth funds seek long-term growth primarily through investing in both U.S. stocks and stocks of issuers domiciled outside the United States. Growth-and-income funds seek long-term growth and income primarily through investments in stocks with some bond investments.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     56

When a fund invests in one or more underlying American Funds, it will invest in Class R-6 shares of such underlying funds. Class R-6 shares have relatively low expenses, which reduce overall expenses. An investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund. In addition to investing in a mix of American Funds, each fund may also invest in funds in the American Funds Insurance Series or other funds managed by Capital Research and Management Company and its affiliates, subject to obtaining any necessary regulatory approvals and notifying shareholders in advance.

The investment adviser will monitor the funds and may make modifications to either the investment approach or the underlying fund allocations that the investment adviser believes could benefit shareholders.

Investments in each fund are subject to risks related to the investment adviser’s allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds and the allocation of the funds’ assets could cause the fund to lose value or its results to lag relevant benchmarks of other funds with similar objectives.

The success of each fund will be impacted by the results of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying funds.

An underlying fund may also hold cash or money market instruments. The percentage of an underlying fund invested in such holdings varies and depends on various factors, including market conditions and purchases and redemptions of fund shares. For temporary defensive purposes, an underlying fund may hold all, or a significant portion, of its assets in cash, money market instruments or other securities that may be deemed appropriate by the underlying fund’s investment adviser. The investment adviser may determine that it is appropriate to take such action in response to certain circumstances, such as periods of market turmoil. A larger amount of such holdings could negatively affect an underlying fund’s investment results in a period of rising market prices. A larger percentage of cash or money market instruments could reduce an underlying fund’s magnitude of loss in the event of falling market prices and provide liquidity to make additional investments or to meet redemptions.

The following are principal risks associated with each fund’s investment strategies.

Allocation risk — Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the investment adviser’s allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds and the allocation of the fund’s assets could cause the fund to lose value or its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Fund structure — The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.

Underlying fund risks — Because the fund’s investments consist of underlying funds, the fund’s risks are directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying funds, as described below.

The following are principal risks associated with the underlying funds’ investment strategies.

Market conditions — The prices of, and the income generated by, the common stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline – sometimes rapidly or unpredictably – due to various factors, including events or conditions affecting the general economy or particular industries; overall market changes; local, regional or global political, social or economic instability; governmental or governmental agency responses to economic conditions; and currency exchange rate, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations.

Issuer risks — The prices of, and the income generated by, securities held by the underlying funds may decline in response to various factors directly related to the issuers of such securities, including reduced demand for an issuer’s goods or services, poor management performance and strategic initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions or dispositions and the market response to any such initiatives.

Investing in stocks — Investing in stocks may involve larger price swings and greater potential for loss than other types of investments. As a result, the value of the underlying funds may be subject to sharp, short-term declines in value. Income provided by an underlying fund may be reduced by changes in the dividend policies of, and the capital resources available at, the companies in which the underlying fund invests. As the fund nears its target date, a decreasing proportion of the fund’s assets will be invested in underlying funds that invest primarily in stocks. Accordingly, these risks are expected to be more significant the further the fund is removed from its target date and are expected to lessen as the fund approaches its target date.

57     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Investing in debt instruments — The prices of, and the income generated by, bonds and other debt securities held by an underlying fund may be affected by changing interest rates and by changes in the effective maturities and credit ratings of these securities.

Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of bonds and other debt securities to fall. Falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or refinance a debt security before its stated maturity, which may result in the fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities. Longer maturity debt securities generally have greater sensitivity to changes in interest rates and may be subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities.

Bonds and other debt securities are also subject to credit risk, which is the possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the credit ratings of the debt securities in which the underlying fund invests. However, ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk. The underlying funds’ investment adviser relies on its own credit analysts to research issuers and issues in seeking to mitigate various credit and default risks. These risks will be more significant as the fund approaches its target date because a greater proportion of the fund’s assets will consist of underlying funds that primarily invest in bonds.

Investing in lower rated debt instruments — Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of default or price declines due to changes in the issuer’s creditworthiness than those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks may be increased with respect to investments in junk bonds.

Investing in small companies — Investing in smaller companies may pose additional risks. For example, it is often more difficult to value or dispose of small company stocks and more difficult to obtain information about smaller companies than about larger companies. Furthermore, smaller companies often have limited product lines, operating histories, markets and/or financial resources, may be dependent on one or a few key persons for management, and can be more susceptible to losses. Moreover, the prices of their stocks may be more volatile than stocks of larger, more established companies.

Investing outside the United States — Securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States, or with significant operations or revenues outside the United States, may lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market developments (including social instability, regional conflicts, terrorism and war) in the countries or regions in which the issuers operate or generate revenue. These securities may also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Issuers of these securities may be more susceptible to actions of foreign governments, such as the imposition of price controls or punitive taxes, that could adversely impact the value of these securities. Securities markets in certain countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the United States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to different accounting practices and different regulatory, legal and reporting standards and practices, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the United States. In addition, the value of investments outside the United States may be reduced by foreign taxes, including foreign withholding taxes on interest and dividends. Further, there may be increased risks of delayed settlement of securities purchased or sold by an underlying fund. The risks of investing outside the United States may be heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.

Investing in emerging markets — Investing in emerging markets may involve risks in addition to and greater than those generally associated with investing in the securities markets of developed countries. For instance, developing countries may have less developed legal and accounting systems than those in developed countries. The governments of these countries may be less stable and more likely to impose capital controls, nationalize a company or industry, place restrictions on foreign ownership and on withdrawing sale proceeds of securities from the country, and/or impose punitive taxes that could adversely affect the prices of securities. In addition, the economies of these countries may be dependent on relatively few industries that are more susceptible to local and global changes. Securities markets in these countries can also be relatively small and have substantially lower trading volumes. As a result, securities issued in these countries may be more volatile and less liquid, and may be more difficult to value, than securities issued in countries with more developed economies and/or markets. Less certainty with respect to security valuations may lead to additional challenges and risks in calculating the underlying fund’s net asset value. Additionally, there may be increased settlement risks for transactions in local securities.

Investing in mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities — Mortgage-related securities, such as mortgage-backed securities, and other asset-backed securities, include debt obligations that represent interests in pools of mortgages or other income-bearing assets, such as consumer loans or receivables. Such securities often involve risks that are different from or more acute than the risks associated with investing in other types of debt securities. Mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are subject to changes in the payment patterns of borrowers of the underlying debt. When interest rates fall, borrowers are more likely to refinance or prepay their debt before its stated maturity. This may result in an underlying fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities, effectively reducing the underlying fund’s income. Conversely, if interest rates rise and borrowers repay their debt more slowly than expected, the time in which the mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are paid off could be extended, reducing an underlying fund’s cash available for reinvestment in higher yielding securities.

American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus     58

Investing in securities backed by the U.S. government — Securities backed by the U.S. Treasury or the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity. Accordingly, the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.

Investing in future delivery contracts — An underlying fund may enter into contracts, such as to-be-announced contracts and mortgage dollar rolls, that involve an underlying fund selling mortgage-related securities and simultaneously contracting to repurchase similar securities for delivery at a future date at a predetermined price. This can increase the underlying fund’s market exposure, and the market price of the securities that the underlying fund contracts to repurchase could drop below their purchase price. While an underlying fund can preserve and generate capital through the use of such contracts by, for example, realizing the difference between the sale price and the future purchase price, the income generated by the underlying fund may be reduced by engaging in such transactions. In addition, these transactions may increase the turnover rate of the underlying fund.

Investing in derivatives — The use of derivatives involves a variety of risks, which may be different from, or greater than, the risks associated with investing in traditional cash securities, such as stocks and bonds. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with, and may be more sensitive to market events than, the underlying asset, rate or index, and a derivative instrument may expose the underlying fund to losses in excess of its initial investment. Derivatives may be difficult for the underlying fund to buy or sell at an opportune time or price and may be difficult to terminate or otherwise offset. The underlying fund’s use of derivatives may result in losses to the underlying fund, and investing in derivatives may reduce the underlying fund’s returns and increase the underlying fund’s price volatility. The underlying fund’s counterparty to a derivative transaction (including, if applicable, the underlying fund’s clearing broker, the derivatives exchange or the clearinghouse) may be unable or unwilling to honor its financial obligations in respect of the transaction. A description of the derivative instruments in which the underlying fund may invest and the various risks associated with those derivatives is included in the underlying fund’s statement of additional information under “Description of certain securities, investment techniques and risks.”

Management — The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds actively manages each underlying fund’s investments. Consequently, the underlying funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by the investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results. This could cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

The following are certain additional risks associated with the underlying funds’ investment strategies.

Interest rate risk — The values and liquidity of the securities held by the fund may be affected by changing interest rates. For example, the values of these securities may decline when interest rates rise and increase when interest rates fall. Longer maturity debt securities generally have greater sensitivity to changes in interest rates and may be subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. The fund may invest in variable and floating rate securities. Although the values of such securities are generally less sensitive to interest rate changes than those of other debt securities, the value of variable and floating rate securities may decline if their interest rates do not rise as quickly, or as much, as general interest rates. Conversely, floating rate securities will not generally increase in value if interest rates decline. During periods of extremely low short-term interest rates, the fund may not be able to maintain a positive yield and, given the current historically low interest rate environment, risks associated with rising rates are currently heightened.

Investing in income-oriented stocks — Income provided by the underlying fund may be reduced by changes in the dividend policies of, and the capital resources available for dividend payments at, the companies in which the underlying fund invests.

Liquidity risk — Certain underlying fund holdings may be deemed to be less liquid or illiquid because they cannot be readily sold without significantly impacting the value of the holdings. Liquidity risk may result from the lack of an active market for a holding, legal or contractual restrictions on resale, or the reduced number and capacity of market participants to make a market in such holding. Market prices for less liquid or illiquid holdings may be volatile, and reduced liquidity may have an adverse impact on the market price of such holdings. Additionally, the sale of less liquid or illiquid holdings may involve substantial delays (including delays in settlement) and additional costs and the underlying fund may be unable to sell such holdings when necessary to meet its liquidity needs.

Credit and liquidity support — Changes in the credit quality of banks and financial institutions providing credit and liquidity support features with respect to securities held by the underlying fund could cause the values of these securities to decline.

Investing in similar municipal bonds — Investing significantly in municipal obligations of multiple issuers in the same state or backed by revenues of similar types of projects or industries may make an underlying fund more susceptible to certain economic, political or regulatory occurrences. As a result, the potential for fluctuations in the underlying fund’s share price may increase.

Investing in futures contracts — In addition to the risks generally associated with investing in derivative instruments, futures contracts are subject to the creditworthiness of the clearing organizations, exchanges and futures commission merchants with which the underlying fund transacts. Additionally, although futures require only a small initial investment in the form of a deposit of initial margin, the amount of a potential loss on a futures contract could greatly exceed the initial amount invested. While futures contracts are generally liquid instruments, under certain market conditions futures may be deemed to be illiquid. For example, the underlying fund may be temporarily prohibited from closing out its position in a futures contract if intraday price change limits or limits on trading volume imposed by the applicable futures exchange are triggered. If the underlying fund is unable to close out a position on a futures contract, the underlying fund would remain subject to the risk of adverse price movements until the underlying fund is able to close out the futures position. The ability of the underlying fund to successfully utilize futures contracts may depend in part upon the ability of the underlying fund’s investment adviser to accurately forecast interest rates and other economic factors and to assess and predict the impact of such economic

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factors on the futures in which the underlying fund invests. If the investment adviser incorrectly forecasts economic developments or incorrectly predicts the impact of such developments on the futures in which it invests, the underlying fund could be exposed to the risk of loss.

Investing in swaps — Swaps, including interest rate swaps and credit default swap indices, or CDX, are subject to many of the risks generally associated with investing in derivative instruments. Additionally, although swaps require no or only a small initial investment in the form of a deposit of initial margin, the amount of a potential loss on a swap contract could greatly exceed the initial amount invested. The use of swaps involves the risk that the investment adviser will not accurately predict anticipated changes in interest rates or other economic factors, which may result in losses to the underlying fund. To the extent the underlying fund enters into a bilaterally negotiated swap transaction, there is a possibility that the counterparty will fail to perform in accordance with the terms of the swap agreement. If a counterparty defaults on its obligations under a swap agreement, the underlying fund may lose any amount it expected to receive from the counterparty, potentially including amounts in excess of the underlying fund’s initial investment. Certain swap transactions are subject to mandatory central clearing or may be eligible for voluntary central clearing. Although clearing interposes a central clearinghouse as the ultimate counterparty to each participant’s swap, central clearing will not eliminate (but may decrease) counterparty risk relative to uncleared bilateral swaps. Some swaps, such as CDX, may be dependent on both the individual credit of the underlying fund’s counterparty and on the credit of one or more issuers of any underlying assets. If the underlying fund does not correctly evaluate the creditworthiness of its counterparty and, where applicable, of issuers of any underlying reference assets, the underlying fund’s investment in a swap may result in losses to the underlying fund.

Exposure to country, region, industry or sector — Subject to the fund’s investment limitations, the underlying fund may have significant exposure to a particular country, region, industry or sector. Such exposure may cause the underlying fund to be more impacted by risks relating to the country, region, industry or sector than a fund without such levels of exposure. For example, if the underlying fund has significant exposure in a particular country, then social, economic, regulatory or other issues that negatively affect that country may have a greater impact on the underlying fund than on a fund that is more geographically diversified.

Fund comparative indexes The investment results tables in this prospectus show how the fund’s average annual total returns compare with various broad measures of market results.

American Funds College 2033 Fund, American Funds College 2030 Fund, American Funds College 2027 Fund, American Funds College 2024 Fund, American Funds College 2021 Fund and American Funds College 2018 Fund

The S&P 500 Index is a market capitalization-weighted index based on the results of approximately 500 widely held common stocks. This index is unmanaged, and its results include reinvested dividends and/or distributions but do not reflect the effect of sales charges, commissions, account fees, expenses or U.S. federal income taxes.

The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index represents the U.S. investment-grade fixed-rate bond market. This index is unmanaged, and its results include reinvested dividends and/or distributions but do not reflect the effect of sales charges, commissions, account fees, expenses or U.S. federal income taxes.

American Funds College Enrollment Fund

The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate 1–5 Years Index represents securities in the one to five year maturity range of the U.S. investment grade fixed-rate bond market. This index is unmanaged, and its results include reinvested distributions but do not reflect the effect of sales charges, commissions, account fees, expenses or U.S. federal income taxes.

Fund results All fund results in this prospectus reflect the reinvestment of dividends and capital gain distributions, if any. Unless otherwise noted, fund results reflect any fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements in effect during the periods presented.

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Information regarding the underlying funds The investment objectives and principal investment strategies of the underlying funds are summarized below and on the following pages. They should not be construed as an offer to purchase or sell the underlying funds. For additional and more current information regarding the underlying funds, investors should read the current prospectuses and statements of additional information of the underlying funds.

Each fund will invest in some, but not all, of the underlying funds listed below. Some underlying funds may not be underlying investments for any fund, while others may serve as underlying investments for multiple funds.

The fund relies on the professional judgment of the investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds to make decisions about the underlying fund’s portfolio investments. The basic investment philosophy of the investment adviser is to seek to invest in attractively valued companies that, in its opinion, represent good, long-term investment opportunities. The investment adviser believes that an important way to accomplish this is through fundamental analysis, which may include meeting with company executives and employees, suppliers, customers and competitors. Securities may be sold when the investment adviser believes that they no longer represent relatively attractive investment opportunities.

Underlying funds – Growth funds

AMCAP Fund The fund’s investment objective is to provide you with long-term growth of capital.

The fund invests primarily in common stocks of U.S. companies that have solid long-term growth records and the potential for good future growth. The fund may invest in common stocks and other securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States to a limited extent.

EuroPacific Growth Fund The fund’s investment objective is to provide you with long-term growth of capital.

The fund invests primarily in common stocks of issuers in Europe and the Pacific Basin that the investment adviser believes have the potential for growth. Growth stocks are stocks that the investment adviser believes have the potential for above-average capital appreciation.

Normally the fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities of issuers in Europe and the Pacific Basin. A country will be considered part of Europe if it is part of the MSCI European indexes, and part of the Pacific Basin if any of its borders touches the Pacific Ocean. In determining the domicile of an issuer, the fund’s investment adviser will consider the domicile determination of a leading provider of global indexes, such as Morgan Stanley Capital International, and may also take into account such factors as where the company’s securities are listed and where the company is legally organized, maintains principal corporate offices, conducts its principal operations and/or generates revenues. The fund may invest a portion of its assets in common stocks and other securities of companies in emerging markets.

The Growth Fund of America The fund’s investment objective is to provide you with growth of capital.

The fund invests primarily in common stocks and seeks to invest in companies that appear to offer superior opportunities for growth of capital. The fund invests primarily in common stocks of large and mid-capitalization issuers. The fund may invest up to 25% of its assets in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States.

The New Economy Fund The investment objective of the fund is long-term growth of capital. Current income is a secondary consideration.

The fund seeks to achieve its objectives by investing in securities of companies that can benefit from innovation, exploit new technologies or provide products and services that meet the demands of an evolving global economy.

In pursuing its investment objectives, the fund invests primarily in common stocks that the investment adviser believes have the potential for growth. The fund also invests in common stocks with the potential to pay dividends. However, current income is not expected to be significant, particularly in low yield environments. The fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in issuers based outside the United States, including those based in developing countries.

New Perspective Fund The fund’s primary investment objective is to provide you with long-term growth of capital. Future income is a secondary objective.

The fund seeks to take advantage of investment opportunities generated by changes in international trade patterns and economic and political relationships by investing in common stocks of companies located around the world.

In pursuing its primary investment objective, the fund invests primarily in common stocks that the investment adviser believes have the potential for growth. In pursuing its secondary objective, the fund invests in common stocks of companies with the potential to pay dividends in the future.

New World Fund The fund’s investment objective is long-term capital appreciation.

The fund invests primarily in common stocks of companies with significant exposure to countries with developing economies and/or markets. The securities markets of these countries may be referred to as emerging markets. The fund may also invest in debt securities of issuers, including issuers of lower rated bonds (rated Ba1 or below and BB+ or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser), with exposure to these countries. Bonds rated Ba1 or BB+ or below are sometimes referred to as “junk bonds.”

Under normal market conditions, the fund will invest at least 35% of its assets in equity and debt securities of issuers primarily based in qualified countries that have developing economies and/or markets.

In determining whether a country is qualified, the fund’s investment adviser will consider such factors as the country’s per capita gross domestic product, the percentage of the country’s economy that is industrialized, market capital as a percentage of gross domestic

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product, the overall regulatory environment, the presence of government regulation limiting or banning foreign ownership, and restrictions on repatriation of initial capital, dividends, interest and/or capital gains.

The fund may invest in equity securities of any company, regardless of where it is based, if the fund’s investment adviser determines that a significant portion of the company’s assets or revenues (generally 20% or more) is attributable to developing countries. In addition, the fund may invest up to 25% of its assets in nonconvertible debt securities of issuers, including issuers of lower rated bonds and government bonds, that are primarily based in qualified countries or that have a significant portion of their assets or revenues attributable to developing countries. The fund may also, to a limited extent, invest in securities of issuers based in nonqualified developing countries.

SMALLCAP World Fund The fund’s investment objective is to provide you with long-term growth of capital.

Normally the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in growth-oriented common stocks and other equity-type securities (such as preferred stocks, convertible preferred stocks and convertible bonds) of companies with small market capitalizations. The investment adviser currently defines “small market capitalization” companies to be companies with market capitalizations of $6.0 billion or less. The investment adviser has periodically re-evaluated and adjusted this definition and may continue to do so in the future. The fund may continue to hold securities of a portfolio company that subsequently appreciates above the small market capitalization threshold. Because of this, the fund may have less than 80% of its net assets in small market capitalization stocks at any given time. Under normal circumstances, the fund will invest a significant portion of its assets outside the United States, including in emerging markets.

Underlying funds – Growth-and-income funds

American Mutual Fund The fund strives for the balanced accomplishment of three objectives: current income, growth of capital and conservation of principal.

The fund seeks to invest primarily in common stocks of companies that are likely to participate in the growth of the American economy and whose dividends appear to be sustainable. The fund invests primarily in securities of issuers domiciled in the United States and Canada.

The fund’s equity investments are limited to securities of companies that are included on its eligible list. Securities are added to, or deleted from, the eligible list based upon a number of factors, such as the fund’s investment objectives and policies, whether a company is deemed to be an established company of sufficient quality and a company’s dividend payment prospects. Although the fund focuses on investments in medium to larger capitalization companies, the fund’s investments are not limited to a particular capitalization size.

The fund may also invest in bonds and other debt securities, including those issued by the U.S. government and by federal agencies and instrumentalities. Debt securities purchased by the fund are rated investment grade or better or determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality.

Capital World Growth and Income Fund The fund’s investment objective is to provide you with long-term growth of capital while providing current income.

The fund invests primarily in common stocks of well-established companies located around the world, many of which have the potential to pay dividends. The fund invests, on a global basis, in common stocks that are denominated in U.S. dollars or other currencies. Under normal market circumstances the fund will invest a significant portion of its assets in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States, including those based in developing countries.

The fund is designed for investors seeking both capital appreciation and income. In pursuing its objective, the fund tends to invest in stocks that the investment adviser believes to be relatively resilient to market declines.

Fundamental Investors The fund’s investment objective is to achieve long-term growth of capital and income.

The fund seeks to invest primarily in common stocks of companies that appear to offer superior opportunities for capital growth and most of which have a history of paying dividends. In addition, the fund may invest significantly in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States.

International Growth and Income Fund The fund’s investment objective is to provide you with long-term growth of capital while providing current income.

The fund invests primarily in stocks of larger, well-established companies domiciled outside the United States, including in emerging markets and developing countries, that the investment adviser believes have the potential for growth and/or to pay dividends. The fund currently intends to invest at least 90% of its assets in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States and whose securities are listed primarily on exchanges outside the United States and in cash and cash equivalents and securities held as collateral issued by U.S. issuers. The fund therefore expects to be invested in numerous countries outside the United States.

The fund is designed for investors seeking both capital appreciation and income. In pursuing its objective, the fund focuses on stocks of companies with strong earnings that pay dividends.

The Investment Company of America The fund’s investment objectives are to achieve long-term growth of capital and income.

The fund invests primarily in common stocks, most of which have a history of paying dividends. The fund’s equity investments are limited to securities of companies that are included on its eligible list. Securities are added to, or deleted from, the eligible list based upon a number of factors, such as the fund’s investment objectives and policies, whether a company is deemed to be an established company of sufficient quality and a company’s dividend payment prospects. Although the fund focuses on investments in medium to larger capitalization companies, the fund’s investments are not limited to a particular capitalization size. In the selection of common stocks and other securities for investment, potential for capital appreciation and future dividends are given more weight than current yield.

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The fund may invest up to 15% of its assets, at the time of purchase, in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States.

Washington Mutual Investors Fund The fund’s investment objective is to produce income and to provide an opportunity for growth of principal consistent with sound common stock investing.

The fund invests primarily in common stocks of established companies that are listed on, or meet the financial listing requirements of, the New York Stock Exchange and have a strong record of earnings and dividends. The fund strives to accomplish its objective through fundamental research, careful selection and broad diversification. In the selection of common stocks and other securities for investment, current and potential yield as well as the potential for long-term capital appreciation are considered. The fund seeks to provide an above-average yield in its quarterly income distribution in relation to the S&P 500 Index (a broad, unmanaged index). The fund strives to maintain a fully invested, diversified portfolio, consisting primarily of high-quality common stocks.

The fund has Investment Standards originally based upon criteria established by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for determining eligibility under the Court’s Legal List procedure, which was in effect for many years. The fund has an “Eligible List” — based on the Investment Standards and approved by the fund’s board of trustees — of investments considered appropriate for a prudent investor seeking opportunities for income and growth of principal consistent with common stock investing. The investment adviser is required to select the fund's investments exclusively from the issuers on the Eligible List. The investment adviser monitors the Eligible List and makes recommendations to the board of trustees regarding changes necessary for continued compliance with the fund’s Investment Standards.

Underlying funds – Equity-income and balanced funds

American Balanced Fund The investment objectives of the fund are: (1) conservation of capital, (2) current income and (3) long-term growth of capital and income.

The fund uses a balanced approach to invest in a broad range of securities, including common stocks and investment-grade bonds (rated Baa3 or better or BBB- or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality). The fund also invests in securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S. government and by federal agencies and instrumentalities. In addition, the fund may invest a portion of its assets in common stocks, most of which have a history of paying dividends, bonds and other securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States.

Normally the fund will maintain at least 50% of the value of its assets in common stocks and at least 25% of the value of its assets in debt securities, including money market securities. Although the fund focuses on investments in medium to larger capitalization companies, the fund’s investments are not limited to a particular capitalization size.

American Funds Global Balanced Fund This fund seeks the balanced accomplishment of three objectives: long-term growth of capital, conservation of principal and current income.

As a balanced fund with global scope, the fund seeks to invest in equity and debt securities around the world that offer the opportunity for growth and/or provide dividend income, while also constructing the portfolio to protect principal and limit volatility. The fund will allocate its assets among various countries, including the United States (but in no fewer than three countries). Under normal market conditions, the fund will invest at least 40% of its net assets in issuers outside the United States, unless market conditions are not deemed favorable by the fund’s investment adviser, in which case the fund would invest at least 30% of its net assets in issuers outside the United States.

The fund’s ability to invest in issuers outside the United States includes investing in emerging markets.

Normally the fund will maintain at least 45% of the value of its assets in common stocks and other equity investments. Although the fund’s equity investments focus on medium to larger capitalization companies, the fund’s investments are not limited to a particular capitalization size.

Normally the fund will invest at least 25% of the value of its assets in bonds and other debt securities (including money market instruments). These will consist of investment-grade securities (rated Baa3 or better or BBB– or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser).

The fund may invest in bonds and other debt securities, including securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S. government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The fund may also invest in securities of governments, agencies, corporations and other entities domiciled outside the United States. These investments will typically be denominated in currencies other than U.S. dollars.

Capital Income Builder The fund has two primary investment objectives. It seeks (1) to provide a level of current income that exceeds the average yield on U.S. stocks generally and (2) to provide a growing stream of income over the years. The fund’s secondary objective is to provide growth of capital.

The fund normally will invest at least 90% of its assets in income-producing securities (with at least 50% of its assets in common stocks and other equity securities). The fund invests primarily in a broad range of income-producing securities, including common stocks and bonds. In seeking to provide you with a level of current income that exceeds the average yield on U.S. stocks, the fund generally looks to the average yield on stocks of companies listed on the S&P 500 Index. The fund may also invest significantly in common stocks, bonds and other securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States.

The Income Fund of America The fund’s investment objectives are to provide you with current income while secondarily striving for capital growth.

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Normally the fund invests primarily in income-producing securities. These include equity securities, such as dividend-paying common stocks, and debt securities, such as interest-paying bonds.

Generally at least 60% of the fund’s assets will be invested in common stocks and other equity-type securities. However, the composition of the fund’s investments in equity, debt and cash or money market instruments may vary substantially depending on various factors, including market conditions. The fund may also invest up to 25% of its assets in equity securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States, including issuers in developing countries. In addition, the fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in lower quality, higher yielding nonconvertible debt securities (rated Ba1 and BB+ or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser); such securities are sometimes referred to as “junk bonds.” The fund may also invest up to 10% of its assets in debt securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States; however, these securities must be denominated in U.S. dollars.

Underlying funds – Fixed income funds

American Funds Mortgage Fund The fund’s investment objective is to provide current income and preservation of capital.

Normally at least 80% of the fund’s assets will be invested in mortgage-related securities, including securities collateralized by mortgage loans and contracts for future delivery of such securities (such as to be announced contracts and mortgage dollar rolls). The fund will invest primarily in mortgage-related securities that are sponsored or guaranteed by the U.S. government, such as securities issued by government-sponsored entities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and nongovernment mortgage-related securities that are rated in the Aaa or AAA rating category (by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser) or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser. The fund may also invest in debt issued by federal agencies. In the case of to be announced contracts, each contract for future delivery is normally of short duration.

The fund may also invest in certain derivative instruments. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which is based on the value of an underlying financial asset (such as a stock, bond or currency), a reference rate or a market index. The fund may invest in a derivative only if, in the opinion of the investment adviser, the expected risks and rewards of the proposed investment are consistent with the investment objective and strategies of the fund as disclosed in this prospectus and in the fund’s statement of additional information.

American High-Income Trust The fund’s primary investment objective is to provide you with a high level of current income. Its secondary investment objective is capital appreciation.

The fund invests primarily in higher yielding and generally lower quality debt securities (rated Ba1 or below or BB+ or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations or unrated but determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality), including corporate loan obligations. Such securities are sometimes referred to as “junk bonds.” The fund may also invest a portion of its assets in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States.

The fund may also invest in certain derivative instruments. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which is based on the value of an underlying financial asset (such as a stock, bond or currency), a reference rate or a market index. The fund may invest in a derivative only if, in the opinion of the investment adviser, the expected risks and rewards of the proposed investment are consistent with the investment objectives and strategies of the fund as disclosed in this prospectus and in the fund’s statement of additional information.

The fund is designed for investors seeking a high level of current income and who are able to tolerate greater credit risk and price fluctuations than those that exist in funds investing in higher quality debt securities.

The Bond Fund of America The fund’s investment objective is to provide as high a level of current income as is consistent with the preservation of capital.

The fund seeks to maximize your level of current income and preserve your capital by investing primarily in bonds. Normally the fund invests at least 80% of its assets in bonds and other debt securities, which may be represented by other investment instruments, including derivatives. The fund invests a majority of its assets in debt securities rated A3 or better or A- or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Ratings Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser, or in debt securities that are unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser, including U.S. government securities, money market instruments or cash.

The fund may invest in debt securities and mortgage-backed securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. The fund invests in debt securities with a wide range of maturities.

The fund may invest in inflation-linked bonds issued by U.S. and non-U.S. governments, their agencies or instrumentalities, and corporations. Inflation-linked bonds are structured to protect against inflation by linking the bond’s principal and interest payments to an inflation index, such as the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers, so that principal and interest adjust to reflect changes in the index.

The fund may invest in certain derivative instruments, such as futures contracts and swaps. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which is based on the value of an underlying financial asset (such as a stock, bond or currency), a reference rate or a market index. The fund may invest in a derivative only if, in the opinion of the investment adviser, the expected risks and rewards of the proposed investment are consistent with the investment objective and strategies of the fund as disclosed in this prospectus and in the fund’s statement of additional information.

The fund’s current practice is to invest no more than 10% of its assets in debt securities rated Ba1 or below and BB+ or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Ratings Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser, or in debt securities that are unrated but

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determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser. Securities rated Ba1 or below and BB+ or below are sometimes referred to as “junk bonds.”

Capital World Bond Fund The fund’s investment objective is to provide you, over the long term, with a high level of total return consistent with prudent investment management. Total return comprises the income generated by the fund and the changes in the market value of the fund’s investments.

Under normal market circumstances, the fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in bonds and other debt securities, which may be represented by other investment instruments, including derivatives. The fund invests primarily in debt securities, including asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities and securities of governmental, supranational and corporate issuers denominated in various currencies, including U.S. dollars. The fund may invest substantially in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States, including issuers domiciled in developing countries. Normally, the fund will invest substantially in investment-grade bonds (rated Baa3 or better or BBB– or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser). The fund may also invest up to 25% of its assets in lower quality, higher yielding debt securities (rated Ba1 or below and BB+ or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser). Such securities are sometimes referred to as “junk bonds.” The total return of the fund will be the result of interest income, changes in the market value of the fund’s investments and changes in the values of other currencies relative to the U.S. dollar.

The fund may invest in certain derivative instruments. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which is based on the value of an underlying financial asset (such as a stock, bond or currency), a reference rate or a market index. The fund may invest in a derivative only if, in the opinion of the investment adviser, the expected risks and rewards of the proposed investment are consistent with the investment objective and strategies of the fund as disclosed in this prospectus and in the fund’s statement of additional information.

The fund is nondiversified, which allows it to invest a greater percentage of its assets in any one issuer than would otherwise be the case. However, the fund intends to limit its investments in the securities of any single issuer.

Intermediate Bond Fund of America The fund’s investment objective is to provide you with current income consistent with the maturity and quality standards described in its prospectus and preservation of capital.

The fund maintains a portfolio of bonds, other debt securities and money market instruments having a dollar-weighted average effective maturity of no less than three years and no greater than five years under normal market conditions. The fund invests primarily in bonds and other debt securities with quality ratings of A– or better or A3 or better (by a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization designated by the fund’s investment adviser) or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser. The fund may invest up to 10% of its assets in bonds and other debt securities rated in the BBB or Baa rating category (by a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization designated by the fund’s investment adviser) or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser.

The fund primarily invests in debt securities denominated in U.S. dollars. These include securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S. government, debt securities and mortgage-backed securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal agencies, and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. In addition, the fund may invest in mortgage-backed securities issued by private issuers and asset-backed securities (securities backed by assets such as auto loans, credit card receivables or other providers of credit).

The fund may invest in inflation-linked bonds issued by U.S. and non-U.S. governments, their agencies or instrumentalities, and corporations. Inflation-linked bonds are structured to protect against inflation by linking the bond’s principal and interest payments to an inflation index, such as the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers, so that principal and interest adjust to reflect changes in the index.

The fund may also invest in certain derivative instruments. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which is based on the value of an underlying financial asset (such as a stock, bond or currency), a reference rate or a market index. The fund may invest in a derivative only if, in the opinion of the investment adviser, the expected risks and rewards of the proposed investment are consistent with the investment objective and strategies of the fund as disclosed in this prospectus and in the fund’s statement of additional information.

Short-Term Bond Fund of America The fund’s investment objective is to provide you with current income, consistent with the maturity and quality standards described in its prospectus, and preservation of capital.

The fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in bonds (bonds include any debt instrument and cash equivalents, and may be represented by other investment instruments, including derivatives). The fund maintains a portfolio of bonds, other debt securities and money market instruments having a dollar-weighted average effective maturity no greater than three years and consisting primarily of debt securities rated AA– or Aa3 or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality by the fund’s investment adviser. The fund may invest up to 10% of its assets in debt securities in the A rating category or in unrated securities determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality.

The fund primarily invests in debt securities denominated in U.S. dollars, including securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S. government, securities of corporate issuers, mortgage-backed securities and debt securities and mortgage-backed securities issued by government sponsored entities and federal agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. In addition, the fund may invest in asset-backed securities (securities backed by assets such as auto loans, credit card receivables or other providers of credit).

65     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

The fund may invest in inflation-linked bonds issued by U.S. and non-U.S. governments, their agencies or instrumentalities, and corporations. Inflation-linked bonds are structured to protect against inflation by linking the bond’s principal and interest payments to an inflation index, such as the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers, so that principal and interest adjust to reflect changes in the index.

The fund may also invest in certain derivative instruments. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which is based on the value of an underlying financial asset (such as a stock, bond or currency), a reference rate or a market index. The fund may invest in a derivative only if, in the opinion of the investment adviser, the expected risks and rewards of the proposed investment are consistent with the investment objective and strategies of the fund as disclosed in this prospectus and in the fund’s statement of additional information.

U.S. Government Securities Fund The fund’s investment objective is to provide a high level of current income consistent with prudent investment risk and preservation of capital.

Normally at least 80% of the fund’s assets will be invested in securities that are guaranteed or sponsored by the U.S. government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including bonds and other debt securities denominated in U.S. dollars, which may be represented by other investment instruments, including derivatives. The fund may also invest in mortgage-backed securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. The fund invests in debt securities with a wide range of maturities.

The fund may invest in inflation-linked bonds issued by U.S. and non-U.S. governments, their agencies or instrumentalities, and corporations. Inflation-linked bonds are structured to protect against inflation by linking the bond’s principal and interest payments to an inflation index, such as the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers, so that principal and interest adjust to reflect changes in the index.

The fund may invest in certain derivative instruments. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which is based on the value of an underlying financial asset (such as a stock, bond or currency), a reference rate or a market index. The fund may invest in a derivative only if, in the opinion of the investment adviser, the expected risks and rewards of the proposed investment are consistent with the investment objective and strategies of the fund as disclosed in this prospectus and in the fund’s statement of additional information.

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Management and organization

Investment adviser Capital Research and Management Company, an experienced investment management organization founded in 1931, serves as the investment adviser to the funds and other funds, including the underlying American Funds. Capital Research and Management Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Capital Group Companies, Inc. and is located at 333 South Hope Street, Los Angeles, California 90071. Capital Research and Management Company manages the investment portfolio and business affairs of the funds. Effective January 1, 2016, the investment adviser eliminated the management fee payable by each fund to it. Accordingly, as reflected in the "Annual fund operating expenses" table for each fund under "Fees and expenses of the fund," no management fees are paid by each fund to the investment adviser. Please see the statement of additional information for further details. A discussion regarding the basis for approval of the series’ Investment Advisory and Service Agreement by the series’ board of trustees is contained in the series’ annual report to shareholders for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2017.

Capital Research and Management Company manages equity assets through three equity investment divisions and fixed income assets through its fixed income investment division, Capital Fixed Income Investors. The three equity investment divisions — Capital World Investors, Capital Research Global Investors and Capital International Investors — make investment decisions independently of one another.

The equity investment divisions may, in the future, be incorporated as wholly owned subsidiaries of Capital Research and Management Company. In that event, Capital Research and Management Company would continue to be the investment adviser, and day-to-day investment management of equity assets would continue to be carried out through one or more of these subsidiaries. Although not currently contemplated, Capital Research and Management Company could incorporate its fixed income investment division in the future and engage it to provide day-to-day investment management of fixed income assets. Capital Research and Management Company and each of the funds it advises have received an exemptive order from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that allows Capital Research and Management Company to use, upon approval of the fund’s board, its management subsidiaries and affiliates to provide day-to-day investment management services to the fund, including making changes to the management subsidiaries and affiliates providing such services. There is no assurance that Capital Research and Management Company will incorporate its investment divisions or exercise any authority granted to it under the exemptive order.

Portfolio holdings Portfolio holdings information for each fund in the series is available on the American Funds website at americanfunds.com. A description of the funds’ policies and procedures regarding disclosure of information about their portfolio holdings is available in the statement of additional information.

The Capital System ^SM for the underlying funds Capital Research and Management Company uses a system of multiple portfolio managers in managing mutual fund assets for the underlying funds. Under this approach, the portfolio of each underlying fund is divided into segments managed by individual managers who decide how their respective segments will be invested. In addition, Capital Research and Management Company’s investment analysts may make investment decisions with respect to a portion of an underlying fund’s portfolio. Investment decisions are subject to the underlying fund’s objective(s), policies and restrictions and the oversight of the appropriate investment-related committees of Capital Research and Management Company and its investment divisions.

67     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Portfolio management for the series Capital Research and Management Company is the investment adviser to the American Funds College Target Date Series. For each fund in the series, the Portfolio Oversight Committee develops the allocation approach and selects the underlying funds in which each fund invests.

The table below shows the investment experience and role in management for each of the series’ investment professionals.

Information regarding the investment professionals’ compensation, their ownership of securities in the series and other accounts they manage is in the statement of additional information.

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Certain privileges and/or services described on the following pages of this prospectus and in the statement of additional information may not be available to you, depending on your investment dealer or retirement plan recordkeeper. Please see your financial advisor, investment dealer or retirement plan recordkeeper for more information.

Shareholder information

Shareholder services American Funds Service Company, the fund’s transfer agent, offers a wide range of services that you can use to alter your investment program should your needs or circumstances change. These services may be terminated or modified at any time upon 60 days’ written notice.

A more detailed description of policies and services is included in the series’ statement of additional information and the owner’s guide sent to new American Funds shareholders entitled Welcome . Class 529 shareholders should also refer to the applicable program description for information on policies and services relating specifically to their account(s). These documents are available by writing to or calling American Funds Service Company.

69     American Funds College Target Date Series / Prospectus

Purchase, exchange and sale of shares The series’ transfer agent, on behalf of the series and American Funds Distributors, ^® the series’ distributor, is required by law to obtain certain personal information from you or any other person(s) acting on your behalf in order to verify your or such person’s identity. If you do not provide the information, the transfer agent may not be able to open your account. If the transfer agent is unable to verify your identity or that of any other person(s) authorized to act on your behalf, or believes it has identified potentially criminal activity, the series and American Funds Distributors reserve the right to close your account or take such other action they deem reasonable or required by law.

When purchasing shares, you should designate the fund or funds in which you wish to invest. Subject to the exception below, if no fund is designated, your money will be held uninvested (without liability to the transfer agent for loss of income or appreciation pending receipt of proper instructions) until investment instructions are received, but for no more than three business days. Your investment will be made at the net asset value (plus any applicable sales charge, in the case of Class 529-A or Class 529-T shares) next determined after investment instructions are received and accepted by the transfer agent. If investment instructions are not received, your money will be invested in Class 529-A shares (or, if you are investing through a financial intermediary who offers only Class 529-T shares, in Class 529-T shares) of American Funds U.S. Government Money Market Fund ^SM on the third business day after receipt of your investment.

If the amount of your cash investment is $10,000 or less, no fund is designated, and you made a cash investment (excluding exchanges) within the last 16 months, your money will be invested in the same proportion and in the same fund or funds and in the same class of shares in which your last cash investment was made.

Different procedures may apply to certain employer-sponsored arrangements, including, but not limited to, SEPs and SIMPLE IRAs.

Valuing shares The net asset value of each share class of each fund in the series is calculated based upon the net asset values of the underlying funds in which each fund invests. The prospectuses for the underlying funds explain the circumstances under which the underlying funds will use fair value pricing and the effects of using fair value pricing. The net asset value of each share class of the fund is the value of a single share of that class. The fund calculates the net asset value each day the New York Stock Exchange is open for trading as of approximately 4 p.m. New York time, the normal close of regular trading. If, for example, the New York Stock Exchange closes at 1 p.m. New York time, the fund’s net asset value would still be determined as of 4 p.m. New York time. In this example, portfolio securities traded on the New York Stock Exchange would be valued at their closing prices unless the investment adviser determines that a “fair value” adjustment is appropriate due to subsequent events.

Equity securities are valued primarily on the basis of market quotations, and debt securities are valued primarily on the basis of prices from third-party pricing services. Futures contracts are valued primarily on the basis of settlement prices. The underlying fund has adopted procedures for making fair value determinations if market quotations or prices from third-party pricing services, as applicable, are not readily available or are not considered reliable. For example, if events occur between the close of markets outside the United States and the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange that, in the opinion of the investment adviser, materially affect the value of any of the underlying fund’s equity securities that trade principally in those international markets, those securities will be valued in accordance with fair value procedures. Similarly, fair value procedures may be employed if an issuer defaults on its debt securities and there is no market for its securities. Use of these procedures is intended to result in more appropriate net asset values and, where applicable, to reduce potential arbitrage opportunities otherwise available to short-term investors.

Because the underlying funds may hold securities that are listed primarily on foreign exchanges that trade on weekends or days when the fund does not price its shares, the values of securities held in the fund may change on days when you will not be able to purchase or redeem fund shares.

Your shares will be purchased at the net asset value (plus any applicable sales charge, in the case of Class 529-A or Class 529-T shares) or sold at the net asset value next determined after American Funds Service Company receives your request, provided that your request contains all information and legal documentation necessary to process the transaction. A contingent deferred sales charge may apply at the time you sell certain Class 529-A and 529-C shares.

Class 529 shares may be purchased only through an account established with a 529 college savings plan managed by the American Funds organization. Investors residing in any state may open this type of account and purchase Class 529 shares by contacting any financial advisor (who may impose transaction charges in addition to those described in this prospectus) authorized to sell such an account. You may purchase additional shares in various ways, including through your financial advisor and by mail, telephone, the Internet and bank wire. Accounts holding Class 529 shares are subject to a $10 account setup fee and an annual $10 account maintenance fee. These fees are waived until further notice.

Automatic conversion of Class 529-C shares Class 529-C shares automatically convert to Class 529-A shares in the month of the 10-year anniversary of the purchase date. The Internal Revenue Service currently takes the position that such automatic conversions are not taxable. Should its position change, the automatic conversion feature may be suspended. If this were to happen, you would have the option of converting your Class 529-C shares to Class 529-A shares at the anniversary date described above. This exchange would be based on the relative net asset values of the two classes in question, without the imposition of a sales charge or fee, but you might face certain tax consequences as a result.

Purchase of Class 529-F-1 shares You may generally open an account and purchase Class 529-F-1 shares only through fee-based programs of investment dealers that have special agreements with the fund’s distributor, through financial intermediaries that have been approved by, and that have special agreements with, the fund’s distributor to offer Class 529-F-1 shares to self-directed investment brokerage accounts that may charge a transaction fee, through certain registered investment advisors and through other intermediaries approved by the fund’s distributor. These intermediaries typically charge ongoing fees for services they provide. Intermediary fees are not paid by the fund and normally range from .75% to 1.50% of assets annually, depending on the services offered.

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Purchase of Class 529-E shares Class 529-E shares may be purchased only by employees participating through an eligible employer plan.

Purchase minimums and maximums Purchase minimums described in this prospectus may be waived in certain cases. In addition, the fund reserves the right to redeem the shares of any shareholder for their then current net asset value per share if the shareholder’s aggregate investment in the fund falls below the fund’s minimum initial investment amount. See the statement of additional information for details.

For accounts established with an automatic investment plan, the initial purchase minimum of $250 may be waived if the purchases (including purchases through exchanges from another fund) made under the plan are sufficient to reach $250 within five months of account establishment. For an employer-sponsored program, the minimums may be as little as $25.

The effective purchase maximums for Class 529-A, 529-C, 529-E, 529-T and 529-F-1 shares will reflect the maximum applicable contribution limits under state law. See the applicable program description for more information.

If you have significant American Funds holdings, you may not be eligible to invest in Class 529-C shares. Specifically, you may not purchase Class 529-C shares if you are eligible to purchase Class 529-A shares at the $1 million or more sales charge discount rate (that is, at net asset value). See “Sales charge reductions and waivers” in this prospectus and the statement of additional information for more details regarding sales charge discounts.

The maximum contribution limit for plans administered by the Virginia College Savings Plan is $350,000 for each beneficiary. The $350,000-per-beneficiary limit applies across all plans administered by Virginia College Savings Plan, including CollegeAmerica, the Virginia Education Savings Trust, the Virginia Prepaid Education Program and CollegeWealth. Multiple accounts for the same beneficiary will be combined to determine if the maximum contribution amount has been reached. Once the total balance (including any earnings) reaches $350,000, we will not accept additional contributions or rollovers.

Exchange Except for Class 529-T shares or as otherwise described in this prospectus, you may exchange your shares for shares of the same class of other American Funds without a sales charge. Class A, C, T or F-1 shares of any American Fund (other than American Funds U.S. Government Money Market Fund, as described below) may be exchanged for the corresponding 529 share class without a sales charge. Exchanges from Class A, C, T or F-1 shares to the corresponding 529 share class, particularly in the case of Uniform Gifts to Minors Act or Uniform Transfers to Minors Act custodial accounts, may result in significant legal and tax consequences, as described in the applicable program description. Please consult your financial advisor before making such an exchange.

Except as indicated above, Class 529-T shares are not eligible for exchange privileges. Accordingly, an exchange of your Class 529-T shares for Class 529-T shares of any other American Fund will normally be subject to any applicable sales charges.

Exchanges of shares from American Funds U.S. Government Money Market Fund initially purchased without a sales charge to shares of another American Fund will be subject to the appropriate sales charge applicable to the other fund, unless the American Funds U.S. Government Money Market Fund shares were acquired by an exchange from a fund having a sales charge or by reinvestment or cross-reinvestment of dividends or capital gain distributions. For purposes of computing the contingent deferred sales charge on Class 529-C shares, the length of time you have owned your shares will be measured from the first day of the month in which shares were purchased and will not be affected by any permitted exchange.

Exchanges have the same tax consequences as ordinary sales and purchases. For example, to the extent you exchange shares held in a taxable account that are worth more now than what you paid for them, the gain will be subject to taxation.

See “Transactions by telephone, fax or the Internet” in the section “How to sell shares” of this prospectus for information regarding electronic exchanges.

Please see the statement of additional information for details and limitations on moving investments in certain share classes to different share classes and on moving investments held in certain accounts to different accounts.

The IRS allows account owners in 529 plans to reallocate their investments only once per calendar year for the same owner and beneficiary. See the applicable program description for more information.

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How to sell shares

You may sell (redeem) shares in any of the following ways:

Through your dealer or financial advisor (certain charges may apply)

·  Shares held for you in your dealer’s name must be sold through the dealer.

·  Class 529-F shares must be sold through intermediaries such as dealers or financial advisors.

Writing to American Funds Service Company

·  Requests must be signed by the registered shareholder(s).

·  A signature guarantee is required if the redemption is:

—  more than $125,000;

—  made payable to someone other than the registered shareholder(s); or

—  sent to an address other than the address of record or to an address of record that has been changed within the previous 10 days.

·  American Funds Service Company reserves the right to require signature guarantee(s) on any redemption.

·  Additional documentation may be required for redemptions of shares held in corporate, partnership or fiduciary accounts.

Telephoning or faxing American Funds Service Company or using the Internet

·  Redemptions by telephone, fax or the Internet (including American FundsLine ^® and americanfunds.com) are limited to $125,000 per American Funds shareholder each day.

·  Checks must be made payable to the registered shareholder.

·  Checks must be mailed to an address of record that has been used with the account for at least 10 days.

The fund typically expects to pay redemption proceeds one business day following receipt and acceptance of a redemption order. However, payment may take longer than one business day and may take up to seven days as generally permitted by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“1940 Act”). Under the 1940 Act, the fund may be permitted to pay redemption proceeds beyond seven days under certain limited circumstances. In addition, if you recently purchased shares and subsequently request a redemption of those shares, the fund will pay redemption proceeds once a sufficient period of time has passed to reasonably ensure that checks or drafts, including certified or cashier’s checks, for the shares purchased have cleared (normally 10 business days from the purchase date).

Under normal conditions, the fund typically expects to meet shareholder redemptions by monitoring the fund’s portfolio and redemption activities and by regularly holding a reserve of highly liquid assets, such as cash or cash equivalents. The fund may use additional methods to meet shareholder redemptions, if they become necessary. These methods may include, but are not limited to, the sale of portfolio assets, the use of overdraft protection afforded by the fund’s custodian bank, borrowing from a line of credit or from other funds advised by the investment adviser or its affiliates, and making payment with fund securities or other fund assets rather than in cash (as further discussed in the following paragraph).

Although payment of redemptions normally will be in cash, the series’ declaration of trust permits payment of the redemption price wholly or partly with portfolio securities or other fund assets under conditions and circumstances determined by the series’ board of trustees. On the same redemption date, some shareholders may be paid in whole or in part in securities (which may differ among those shareholders), while other shareholders may be paid entirely in cash. The disposal of the securities received in-kind may be subject to brokerage costs and, until sold, such securities remain at market risk and liquidity risk, including the risk that such securities are or become difficult to sell. If the fund pays your redemption with illiquid or less liquid securities, you will bear the risk of not being able to sell such securities.

Transactions by telephone, fax or the Internet Generally, you are automatically eligible to redeem or exchange shares by telephone, fax or the Internet, unless you notify us in writing that you do not want any or all of these services. You may reinstate these services at any time.

Unless you decide not to have telephone, fax or Internet services on your account(s), you agree to hold the series, American Funds Service Company, any of its affiliates or mutual funds managed by such affiliates, and each of their respective directors, trustees, officers, employees and agents harmless from any losses, expenses, costs or liabilities (including attorney fees) that may be incurred in connection with the exercise of these privileges, provided that American Funds Service Company employs reasonable procedures to confirm that the instructions received from any person with appropriate account information are genuine. If reasonable procedures are not employed, American Funds Service Company and/or the series may be liable for losses due to unauthorized or fraudulent instructions.

Frequent trading of fund shares The series and American Funds Distributors reserve the right to reject any purchase order for any reason. The funds in the series are not designed to serve as vehicles for frequent trading. Frequent trading of fund shares may lead to increased costs to the fund and less efficient management of the fund’s portfolio, potentially resulting in dilution of the value of the shares held by long-term shareholders. Accordingly, purchases, including those that are part of exchange activity, that the series or American Funds Distributors has determined could involve actual or potential harm to the funds may be rejected.

The series, through its transfer agent, American Funds Service Company, maintains surveillance procedures that are designed to detect frequent trading in fund shares. Under these procedures, various analytics are used to evaluate factors that may be indicative of frequent trading. For example, transactions in fund shares that exceed certain monetary thresholds may be scrutinized. American Funds Service Company also may review transactions that occur close in time to other transactions in the same account or in multiple accounts under common ownership or influence. Trading activity that is identified through these procedures or as a result of any other information available to the series will be evaluated to determine whether such activity might constitute frequent trading. These procedures may be modified from time to time as appropriate to improve the detection of frequent trading, to facilitate monitoring for frequent trading in particular retirement plans or other accounts and to comply with applicable laws.

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American Funds Service Company will work with certain intermediaries (such as investment dealers holding shareholder accounts in street name and bank trust companies) to apply their own procedures, provided that American Funds Service Company believes the intermediary’s procedures are reasonably designed to enforce the frequent trading policies of the series. You should refer to disclosures provided by the intermediaries with which you have an account to determine the specific trading restrictions that apply to you.

If American Funds Service Company identifies any activity that may constitute frequent trading, it reserves the right to contact the intermediary and request that the intermediary either provide information regarding an account owner’s transactions or restrict the account owner’s trading. If American Funds Service Company is not satisfied that the intermediary has taken appropriate action, American Funds Service Company may terminate the intermediary’s ability to transact in fund shares.

There is no guarantee that all instances of frequent trading in fund shares will be prevented.

Notwithstanding the series’ surveillance procedures described above, all transactions in fund shares remain subject to the right of the series, American Funds Distributors and American Funds Service Company to restrict potentially abusive trading generally. See the statement of additional information for more information about how American Funds Service Company may address other potentially abusive trading activity in the American Funds.

The IRS allows account owners in 529 plans to reallocate their investments only once per calendar year for the same owner and beneficiary. See the applicable program description for more information.

Distributions and taxes

Dividends and distributions Each fund intends to distribute dividends to you, usually in December. Dividends may fluctuate. Since the fund’s distribution of net investment income may exceed its earnings and profits for tax purposes, a portion of the distribution may be classified as a return of capital.

Capital gains, if any, are usually distributed in December. When a dividend or capital gain is distributed, the net asset value per share is reduced by the amount of the payment.

Dividends and capital gain distributions for 529 share classes will be reinvested automatically.

Taxes on dividends and distributions Dividends and capital gain distributions that are automatically reinvested in tax-favored college savings accounts are not currently taxable. Return of capital distributions decrease your cost basis and are not taxable until your cost basis has been reduced to zero. If your cost base is zero, return of capital distributions are treated as capital gains.

Other tax considerations The IRS allows account owners in 529 plans (also known as Qualified Tuition Plans) to reallocate their investments only once per calendar year for the same owner and beneficiary. Such a reallocation will not result in a capital gain or loss for federal or state income tax purposes. Withdrawals may not result in tax consequences if used for certain qualified higher education expenses. However, the account owner cannot deduct contributions to 529 plans for federal income tax purposes. Please refer to the applicable program description for more information. The CollegeAmerica 529 program description and additional information is on our website, americanfunds.com.

Shareholder fees Fees borne directly by a fund normally have the effect of reducing a shareholder’s taxable income on distributions. By contrast, fees paid directly to advisors by a fund shareholder for ongoing advice are deductible for income tax purposes only to the extent that they (combined with certain other qualifying expenses) exceed 2% of such shareholder’s adjusted gross income.

Please see your tax advisor for more information. You should also refer to the applicable program description for more information regarding the tax consequences of selling Class 529 shares.

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Choosing a share class The funds offer different classes of shares through this prospectus. The services or share classes available to you may vary depending upon how you wish to purchase shares of the fund.

Each share class represents an investment in the same portfolio of securities, but each class has its own sales charge and expense structure, allowing you to choose the class that best fits your situation. When you purchase shares of a fund for an individual-type account, you should choose a share class. If none is chosen, your investment will be made in Class 529-A shares (or, if you are investing through a financial intermediary who offers only Class 529-T shares, your investment will be made in Class 529-T shares).

Factors you should consider when choosing a class of shares include:

·  how long you expect to own the shares;

·  how much you intend to invest;

·  total expenses associated with owning shares of each class;

·  whether you qualify for any reduction or waiver of sales charges (for example, Class 529-A or 529-T shares may be a less expensive option over time, particularly if you qualify for a sales charge reduction or waiver);

·  whether you want or need the flexibility to effect exchanges among the American Funds without the imposition of a sales charge (for example, while Class 529-A shares offer such exchange privileges, Class 529-T shares do not);

·  whether you plan to take any distributions in the near future (for example, the contingent deferred sales charge will not be waived if you sell your Class 529-C shares to cover higher education expenses); and

·  availability of share classes:

—  Class 529-F-1 shares are available (i) to fee-based programs of investment dealers that have special agreements with the fund’s distributor, (ii) to financial intermediaries that have been approved by, and that have special agreements with, the fund’s distributor to offer Class 529-F-1 shares to self-directed investment brokerage accounts that may charge a transaction fee, (iii) to certain registered investment advisors and (iv) to other intermediaries approved by the fund’s distributor.

Each investor’s financial considerations are different. You should speak with your financial advisor to help you decide which share class is best for you.

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Sales charges

Class 529-A shares The initial sales charge you pay each time you buy Class 529-A shares differs depending upon the amount you invest and may be reduced or eliminated for larger purchases as indicated below. The “offering price,” the price you pay to buy shares, includes any applicable sales charge, which will be deducted directly from your investment. Shares acquired through reinvestment of dividends or capital gain distributions are not subject to an initial sales charge.

Sales charges for all of the funds in the American Funds College Target Date Series with the exception of American Funds College Enrollment Fund